Insight ::: 03.11.2024

Months of negotiations between legislators, school officials and the law enforcement community have led to agreement in the House on an updated school resource officer policy.

The House passed HF3489, sponsored by Rep. Cedrick Frazier (DFL–New Hope), 124-8 Monday. It now heads to the Senate.

The bill would clarify language around the use of certain choke holds and facedown prone restraints resource officers can place on students and update use-of-force standards for those officers.

Furthermore, it would remove language specific to contracted security and school resource officers placing restraining holds on students.

“The bill before us today clarifies the law regarding the use of force in schools, retaining crucial limitations on practices such as choke holds, and establishing clear standards for the training and deployment of school resource officers,” Frazier said. “The goal is to build relationships, not to damage relationships.”

Because of perceived ambiguity in legislation passed last year, more than 40 police departments pulled officers from participating school districts last fall.

“I’m hoping that we can get [school resource officers] back in the school with this fix today, and I think this will, obviously, keep our schools, our students and our teachers safe. But it will also give our parents some

Photo by Andrew VonBank Rep. Cedrick Frazier presents HF3489 on the House Floor March 4. Passed overwhelmingly,

Our team is committed to delivering for our clients. We celebrate their commitment with initiatives like Sharing Success, which awarded 97% of colleagues additional compensation this year, nearly all in stock. This is the seventh consecutive year teammates received this award, totaling more than $4.8 billion.

We are committed to being a Great Place to Work for our teammates in the Twin Cities and around the globe. This includes providing industryleading benefits, minimum wage at $23/hr on track to $25/hr by 2025 and opportunities to build a career with us. These are a few reasons we’ve been named one of America’s Most JUST Companies.

Lucas Giambelluca

President, Bank of America Twin Cities

Go to bankofamerica.com/twincities to learn more.

What would you like the power to do?®

Israeli peace activists are more anguished than ever in a movement that has always been diverse and divided, with differing visions of ‘peace’

By Atalia Omer Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame

The months since Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, have been excruciating ones for Israeli peace activists. As the country rallies behind the war effort, critics have been arrestedand condemned by opponents who say the attacks proved how misguided the peace movement is. But in activists’ eyes, the horrific violence of Oct. 7 and Israel’s sweeping military response only prove its urgency.

Vivian Silver, who spent a decade leading Women Wage Peace – a solidarity group of Israelis and Palestinians – was one of several peace activists murdered that day. “If we want a future here, we have to make the conflict a thing of the past,” her son Yonatan Zeigen wrote in an op-ed after her death.

For some activists,

in other words, Oct. 7 only underscored the urgency of their cause. Yet the peace movement has always been diverse and often fragmented. In reality, there are multiple movements, each with its own definition of peace. As a scholar of religion, ethics and politics, I have traced how divergent accounts of Israel’s founding connect to different visions of justice.

The ‘peace camp’ The Israeli demographics most associated with the “peace camp” are predominately Ashkenazi Jews, meaning they are descended from communities in Central and Eastern Europe. They also tend to be secular, meaning they do not closely observe traditional Jewish religious law.

Even within this larger camp, however, there are divergent perceptions of justice, shaped by how people understand the root causes of the conflict. Did it truly start in 1917, when a British lord promised a home for Jews?

In 1948, with Israel’s War

of Independence – which Palestinians experienced as the Nakba, their “catastrophe”? Or is the most important date 1967, when Israel occupied the Golan Heights, east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip?

For the most part, this “peace camp” believes “Israel proper” consists of land within the “Green Line,” set by the armistice agreements at the end of the 1948 war. The Green Line does not include the territories Israel has occupied since the end of the 1967 war, which most of the peace camp considers a morally wrong occupation.

More broadly, their vision is grounded in preserving Israel as a democracy with a Jewish majority. This necessitates the creation of a sovereign Palestinian nationstate in the occupied territories.

A prominent example of a secular group accepting the Green Line as a peace premise is the once-robust Peace Now movement, created in 1978 by Israeli veterans. They argue, using human rights and international law, that a

permanent occupation will threaten the character of Israel as a Jewish democracy.

… and its dissenters

Ever since the early days of Zionism, however, other Jews have challenged the movement’s basic objective of creating a Jewish-majority state, given the reality that other groups of people, in addition to Jews, already lived in historic Palestine. For example, the group Brit Shalom, established in 1926 by European Jewish intellectuals, envisioned a binational state that would include equality for non-Jewish Palestinian communities. In Brit Shalom’s view, a commitment to democratic principles contradicted ambitions for creating a majoritarian Jewish state, which they predicted would depend on driving out Palestinians and preventing their return.

Other contemporary secular groups that are mostly made up of Jewish Israelis also

ISRAELI 4

DLCC unveils ambitious “Multi-Cycle” strategy for long-term democratic dominance

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) on Monday, Feb. 26, revealed an expansive strategy memo, charting a multifaceted plan to venture into historically Republican strongholds and solidify Democratic power over the next decade. Departing from the typical focus on immediate elections, Democrats are now adopting a forwardthinking approach to counter the historical trend of losing gains in subsequent cycles.

Distinguishing itself as the sole party committee investing in multi-cycle victories, the DLCC said it aims to tackle this challenge headon. Officials said the strategy is to secure immediate electoral triumphs and establish a lasting infrastructure that will fortify Democratic influence for years to come. Investments made in 2024 will lay the foundation to claim the majority in state

legislatures throughout the decade, officials declared.

The DLCC stressed the urgency of countering the Republicans’ successful longterm game, citing underhanded tactics, gerrymandering, and substantial financial investments that have consistently allowed them to dominate state legislatures. To thwart these efforts, the DLCC advocates for significant resources, investments, and a clear strategy for sustained power.

The DLCC also asserted its capability to secure immediate electoral gains while strategically building Democratic power over multiple election cycles. Officials pointed to recent elections reflecting this approach’s success, with state Democrats now controlling 41 of the 99 state legislative chambers, marking a significant shift in political power.

As the DLCC gears up for the 2024 cycle with

its largest-ever $60 million budget, officials outlined a bold, evidence-based plan to achieve majority control in 50 chambers by 2030. The multifaceted strategy includes:  Breaking Republican supermajorities.

 Expanding into traditionally Republican territory.

 Setting the stage for new Democratic trifectas.

Minnesota projects $3.7 billion budget surplus

Week in Review: Feb. 26-March

1 - Excerpts from House Public Information Services reports

The February budget and economic forecast predicts the 2024-25 biennium is may end with a surplus of $3.71 billion, up $1.32 billion from November projections.

The 2026-27 biennium projected a surplus of $2.24 billion, compared to $82 million projected in November.

Minnesota reports that tax revenue is up, especially in corporate profits, while spending estimates are largely unchanged. Spending is still projected to exceed revenue through fiscal year 2027.

State tax revenue for the 2024-25 biennium is projected to be $61 billion and $64.8 billion in the 202627 biennium. Meanwhile, spending is projected at $70.53 billion in the 2024-25 biennium and $66.29 billion in the 202627 biennium. A beginning balance of $16.52 billion in the current biennium and $7 billion in the next (and a $3.26 billion budget reserve in each biennium) push the projected budgets into surplus territory.

“We’ve got a lot of good news in this forecast,”

2023 Legislative session has laid the groundwork for longterm prosperity, a growing middle class, and a future where every Minnesotan has the opportunity to succeed and build a better life,” she said. “While our economy remains strong and corporate profits are still soaring, we know there are Minnesotans who aren’t doing as well, struggling with an economy that feels tilted against them. We will continue to prioritize cutting costs for Minnesotans in child care, housing, and health care.”

House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) sees the budget forecast differently. She said, “Today’s forecast shows Minnesota’s budget is still on the verge of a deficit thanks to Democrats’ irresponsible and unaffordable spending spree last year. Last session, Democrats spent the entire $17.5 billion surplus and raised another $10 billion in taxes on Minnesotans to fuel a massive 40% growth in government. … We should be looking for ways to scale back wasteful spending, exercise restraint this year, and budget responsibly instead of continuing the reckless

said Commissioner Erin Campbell. “While a smaller structural imbalance is good news, that structural imbalance is something that we will have to deal with.”

Campbell added that her agency projects a bonding bill of $980 million and folded that into the forecast. Campbell and State Economist Laura Kalambokidis both warned of risk factors that could change the forecast, such as a possible federal government shutdown and international conflict.

“Our economy is humming along,” Gov. Tim Walz said. “We made critical investments in our budget last year to grow our economy and lower costs for middle-class families. … For all the doom and gloom of November, it took us three months to grow our surpluses by about a third.”

House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFLBrooklyn Park) concurs.

“The budget Democrats enacted during the historically productive

spending spree from last session.”

Bill to regulate aerosol dusters

The House commerce panel advanced a bill sponsored by Rep. Heather Edelson (DFL-Edina) to limit aerosols used in ‘huffing’. HF3539, which would regulate the sale of aerosol dusters.

“What appears to be a harmless product has in recent years become the cause of many deaths, harm, and addiction to Minnesotans,” Edelson said. The House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee approved HF3539 via a voice vote and sent it to the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee.

Education: Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR)

Legislators seek to double funding, number of schools served in BARR education program. Dawn Lueck,

Manager,

Department

Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA

Anadolu via Getty Images A

Dec. 28, 2023, in Tel Aviv, organized by the peace group Standing Together, calls for a cease-fire.

Photo by Michele Jokinen Cory Franson, Elk River School District director of community engagement and community education, testifies before House lawmakers in support of HF3721. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Nathan Coulter.

Business

Target launches new paid membership program in a bid to drive sales at a time of cautious spending

By Anne D’Innocenzio AP Retail Writer

Target, looking for ways to add sales, is relaunching its Target Circle loyalty program including a new paid membership with unlimited free same-day delivery in as little as an hour for orders over $35.

The loyalty program called Target Circle 360 will launch with a special offer for new members for $49 per year from April 7 through May 18. The current Target Circle program has more than 100 million members. The relaunch comes as Target aims to copy the success of Amazon’s juggernaut Amazon Prime and follow Walmart’s membership program.

Target unveiled a series of steps at its annual investors’ meeting Tuesday that aim to rejuvenate sales and traffic. Target will refresh its stores, and over the next decade, the Minneapolis discounter will build more than 300 new stores.

Separately, the Minneapolis-based discounter reported a 58% increase in fourth-quarter profits and handily beat Wall Street expectations as the retailer cut costs and maintained a lean inventory during the critical holiday season. Revenue rose slightly from a year ago and also topped projections. Comparable sales — those from stores or digital channels operating at least 12

months — slipped 4.4%. But the declines slowed compared with the 4.9% drop in the third quarter and 5.4% drop in the second. Target offered a cautious outlook on sales and profits.

“This is a unique moment to clarify our roadmap for growth,” Target’s CEO Brian Cornell told investors at the meeting in Manhattan.

The investor meeting comes as Target’s shoppers remain cautious about spending on discretionary items as they are squeezed by inflation and high borrowing and credit card costs.

Target is more vulnerable than Walmart and other big box discounters. More than half of its annual sales come from discretionary items like toys, fashion and electronic gadgets, things that many Americans have stopped buying.

Target has been trying to strike the right balance between offering good value while also infusing its stores with trendy goods. Last month, the retailer launched a new collection called Dealworthy which features nearly 400 everyday basics starting at less than $1, with most items under $10. They include clothing and accessories, home items and electronics.

At the same time, Target’s deal, struck last year, with designer Kendra Scott to offer exclusive collections

of earrings, necklaces has resonated with shoppers. So has its new kitchenware brand under the discounter’s own label Figmint.

Target has been laserfocused on inventory levels after being burdened with heavily stocked warehouses in the summer of 2022. The inventory glut forced it to discount heavily to clear out those goods.

As for its membership program, Target will continue offering its free-to-join membership with personalized deals, member-exclusive sales throughout the year and additional perks and saving. But new for members: deals will now be applied automatically at checkout so customers don’t have to search for or add individual offers. Target said that members of the free Target Circle membership program already shop five times more and spend five times more than non-members.

Target Circle (formerly called Target RedCard) credit cardholders will be able to sign up for Target Circle 360 at $49 per year if they have their card saved to their Target profile, the company said. Customers without a Target Circle Card will pay $99 per year. Cardholders will also be offer an extra 5% offer instantly on top of the Target Circle deals.

In comparison, an Amazon Prime membership costs $15 a month or $139 annually and includes free

streaming of its Amazon Video, among other perks. The Walmart Plus program for free shipping costs $12.95 per month or $98 in annual fees.

Target reported net income of $1.38 billion, or $2.98 per share, for the threemonth period ended Feb. 3. That compared with $876 million, or $1.89 per share, for the yearago period. The bottom-line results for the latest quarter well surpassed estimates of $2.42 per share, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose 1.7% to $31.92 billion, above projections of $31.83 billion. Traffic for both stores and online combined fell 1.7% during the latest quarter, but that was an improvement from the 4.1% drop in the third quarter. For the current quarter, Target expects a comparable sales decline of 3% to 5%. Analysts are expecting a 3.6% drop, according to FactSet. It forecast adjusted earning per share to be in the range or $1.70

to $2.10. Analysts expect $2.08 per share. For the full year, Target anticipates comparable sales unchanged to up 2%. Adjusted earnings per share should range from $8.60 to $9.60, Target said. Analysts are expecting $9.15 per share, according to FactSet. Target shares rose more than 11% to $167.33 in midday trading.

Wealth disparities by race grew during the pandemic, despite income gains, report shows

A strong performance in financial markets, particularly an outsize gain for the stock market in 2021, helped entrench existing trends of wealth inequality during the pandemic, new data released this week show.

According to a report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the real net worth of white individuals outgrew that of Black and Hispanic individuals by 30 percentage points and 9 percentage points respectively, from the first quarter of 2019 through the second quarter of 2023.

The period featured a remarkable level of government financial support and, after the initial shock of the pandemic, a

surprisingly strong job market. The unemployment rate for Black Americans in particular is now at 5.3%, near a record low, compared to an overall unemployment rate of 3.7%.

Earnings for the typical Black full-time worker are up 7.1% since before the pandemic.

Closing the wealth gap is more difficult because a significantly larger number of white households traditionally have money in stocks and mutual funds. A separate

Fed survey shows that as of 2022, about 65.6% of white households had investments in stocks, compared with 28.3% for Hispanic households and 39.2% for Black households.

“The study really shows the difference between making gains when it comes to income, and closing that gap, versus when it comes to wealth,” said Janelle Jones,

Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. While government support such as increased unemployment benefits and stimulus checks helped stave off a COVID-induced recession, financial asset prices rose so significantly with the reopening of the economy through 2021 that racial wealth disparities increased. And while those market-linked assets did fall in 2022 when the Federal Reserve rapidly increased interest rates, “those declines did not fully offset the earlier rises,” according to the New York Fed.

“Much of the divergence in net worth by race and ethnicity since 2019 can be

oppose the Green Line as a basis for peace building. Zochrot, for example, emphasizes the

attributed to divergence in the real values of financial asset holdings,” wrote the report’s authors — including the fact that Black households have more wealth concentrated in pensions than in stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.

More than 50% of Black financial wealth is invested in pensions, the New York Fed found. Less than 20% of Black wealth is stored in private businesses, corporate equities, and mutual funds. In contrast, less than 30% of white financial wealth is invested in pensions, with about 50% invested in businesses, equities, and mutual funds.

Nakba of 1948 as a root cause of the conflict. Therefore, they advocate for Palestinian refugees’ right of return, which is central to Palestinians’ own conceptions of justice. Other critics of the mainstream peace movement

“Black workers are still more likely to be unionized, which may play a part in the pension story,” said Jones. “But how folks are exposed to the ability to invest in the stock market — whether or not it’s something they grow up doing — we know that’s different for white families than for people of color.” Black family members are less likely to get an inheritance, she said. During the pandemic, the real value of Black-held financial assets dropped in 2022 to below its 2019 level and continued to decline steadily, while the real value of Hispanicheld financial assets dipped below its 2019 level in 2022 and stagnated. Neither group’s real financial assets have recovered to their 2019 values.

Owning a business is another component of financial wealth, and separate data show Black-owned businesses had a tougher time during the pandemic. While less than 10% of all U.S. business owners are Black, Black-owned businesses were also more concentrated in industries hardest hit when COVID first spread, according to Economic Policy Institute analysis of government data.

In April of 2020, more than 40% of Black business owners reported they were not working, compared with only 17% of white business owners.

have criticized it for ignoring the social justice struggles of non-Ashkenazi Jewish Israelis, such as Arab Jews or “Mizrahim” and Ethiopian Jews, or connecting those issues with Palestinians’ experience.

Palestinian voices

The continuous expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has eroded the Green Line as the basis for peace. This de facto annexation, as many analysts call it, makes it increasingly unlikely that “peace” could mean most Israelis living within the line and most Palestinians outside it.

Yet with the erosion of the Green Line, various organizations are reemphasizing a binational vision of a single state, or two states joined in a confederation. Compared with the “mainstream” peace camp, some of these groups have more Palestinian representation, coming mostly from Palestinian citizens of Israel.

A Land for All: Two States One Homeland, known as ALFA, was formed in 2012 and is co-led by Palestinian and Jewish Israelis. In events after Oct. 7,

The industries with the largest total job losses early in the pandemic were also sectors where more Black-owned businesses are concentrated — accommodation, food services, retail, health care, and social assistance. About 28% of Blackowned businesses are found in these industries, compared with just under 20% of white-owned businesses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Still, Treasury Deputy Secretary Walley Adeyemo said Wednesday that economic conditions are improving for Black households, citing rising employment and wages for Black Americans since before the pandemic, and an increase in Black business ownership and participation in the stock market.

Adeyemo suggested that some “policy prescriptions” might be needed to even out the distribution of financial wealth in the U.S.

“The gap between Black and white wealth in America is still too great,” he said.

“The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.”

members grappled with their grief by resolving to imagine a political future together. ALFA’s foundational assumption is that “both people belong in the whole land.” While it believes that, realistically, Jewish settlers will remain in the territories occupied in 1967, it envisions them becoming Israeli residents of a future State of Palestine – one half of a larger confederation with the state of Israel.

Similarly, the organization Standing Together sent two representatives – one Jewish Israeli, one Palestinian Israeli – to the United States together to hold events with the message that “both Jewish people and Palestinians are going to stay on this land. No one is going anywhere.”

Notably, the Palestinian members of groups seeking Palestinian-Israeli dialogues tend to be Israeli citizens from within the Green Line, with a few exceptions, such as Combatants for Peace – a group of Palestinians and Jews committed to nonviolence but made up of former fighters.

AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File

A person heads into a Target store Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in Lakewood, Colo. The company is slated to announce fourth-quarter financial results on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, hours before it holds its annual meeting with investors and analysts. The results and executive comments should offer more clues on shopper behavior in a still tough economic environment.

AP Photo/Richard Drew, File

Television screens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange show the news conference of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. A strong performance in financial markets, particularly an

Israeli

From 4

However, after decades of “peace process,” many Palestinians interpret coexistence initiatives as a form of normalizing the occupation.

The Faithful Left The tension between Israel’s Jewish and democratic identities has been present since

Surplus

From 3

director of Stillwater Area Schools, said BARR has been instrumental to improving culture and supporting students academically, socially and emotionally.

“Our BARR schools are seeing better test scores, better attendance, better behavior and better teacher engagement,” she told the House Education Finance Committee.

The Legislature approved $5 million in 2023 to fund 18 new BARR schools in Minnesota. This year, they want to double both numbers.

Sponsored by Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFLHopkins), HF3378 would appropriate $10 million to fund 36 new BARR schools in fiscal year 2025. Last year, 50 Minnesota schools applied for BARR funding. BARR is a teaching model that empowers students, teachers, and families with data, so schools can realign existing resources to give students more personalized support, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Funding would provide schools with coaching support, professional development, curriculum and resources, and access to the national network of BARR educators over three years.

School-based child care

For families with young children, schoolbased programs can provide a convenient method of quality child care. Operated as part of the school district’s community education program, school-age care offers supervised activities before and after the school day for children in kindergarten through sixth grade.

While these “wraparound” programs are primarily funded through user fees, school districts are also able use local property tax levies to raise money to support students with disabilities or who have temporary family or other related problems.

Rep. Nathan Coulter (DFL-Bloomington) told the House Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee that the number of these programs and the types of services they offer has been expanding in recent years.

To try and keep pace with that increasing demand, he sponsors HF3721. It would expand the age range of reimbursable services to include preschool students and increase the amount of state aid to cover those costs rather than increase the burden on local taxpayers.

“What this bill specifically does is it expands the use of school-age care

DLCC

From 3

Tracking other races that influence power balances.

 Taking advantage of special elections.

Specifically, the DLCC’s multi-cycle strategy targets states like Kansas, North Carolina, and Wisconsin to break or prevent Republican supermajorities. The committee has already invested in Wisconsin and North Carolina as part of its battleground initiatives. Additionally, the DLCC aims to gradually chip away at Republican trifectas in states like Georgia, which is identified as a prime location for political change in 2024.

The DLCC stressed the importance of holding key seats in states that don’t align gubernatorial and legislative elections in the same year. This strategic

before the state’s founding. Under the current hardline government, however, critics fear the state has been relinquishing the democratic part in favor of Jewish supremacy. Religious politicians have been some of the most visible advocates for measures that decrease the likelihood of a contiguous Palestinian sovereign state, such as by constructing new settlements. Yet the current right-wing coalition has provided an impetus for more Israelis who are observant Jews to join peace

revenue and the schoolage care levy to meet those needs,” Coulter told the committee, which laid the bill over for further consideration.

Cory Franson, Elk River School District’s director of community engagement and community education, supports the bill, saying the levy currently provides critical resources for supporting students with developmental or behavioral needs.

He said families express interest in using schoolage care programs but barriers to access need to be removed.

“Currently, the school-age child care levy cannot be used for those early child care participants due to the age limitations set-up in the school-age child care statutory language,” Franson said. “This proposal is intended to bring those same support services into the existing preschool wraparound services that we’re providing.”

Allow over-worked nurses to refuse more patients Nurses in acute care settings could refuse larger workloads and be protected from retaliation for doing so under a bill approved by the House Health Finance and Policy Committee.

Sponsored by Rep. Sandra Feist (DFL-New Brighton), HF4200 would forbid health care facilities from firing, disciplining, or retaliating against direct care employees who refuse to attend to more patients if they believe that doing so would put patients in danger.

On a vote of 11-8, the committee referred the bill — termed the “Health Care Employee Anti-Retaliation and Labor Act” — to the House Labor and Industry Finance and Policy Committee.

“As the number of patients per care team increases, so do higher rates of negative outcomes such as pneumonia, shock, cardiac arrest, or urinary tract infections,” said Elaina Hane, interim executive director of the Minnesota Nurses Association. “Yet, shift after shift, as workers appeal to hospital leaders for help with seriously unsafe staffing, they’re often met with indifference at best.”

Nurses are obligated

move allows Democrats to establish governing trifectas over multiple cycles. With half of its Senate seats up for election in 2024, Pennsylvania serves as a crucial target for the DLCC, aiming to secure a trifecta in 2026 alongside a competitive gubernatorial race.

Moreover, the DLCC underscored its commitment to combating Republican gerrymandering by supporting efforts for representative maps that accurately reflect the diversity of districts and states. The committee also expanded its focus to include races that impact the balance of power in state legislatures, such as state supreme court seats, lieutenant governorships, and ballot initiatives.

The DLCC highlighted the significance of its multi-cycle strategy, emphasizing that it goes beyond single election cycles. Special elections, offering critical opportunities to expand Democratic power incrementally, were highlighted as a key aspect of the strategy.

efforts: the “Faithful Left,” or Smol Emuni in Hebrew. The movement was born when hundreds showed up to a Jerusalem conference in January 2023, discussing their discomfort with how Jewish tradition was being used politically, and a second conference was held in February 2024. Because many of the Faithful Left are products of religious Zionist schools, their key advantage within the peace movement is the ability to challenge arguments for annexation or domination

to declare when a situation is unsafe, Feist said. However, some experience retaliation, such as verbal abuse or a disciplinary process, or are sent home. Subsequently, health care facilities sometimes assign more patients to each nurse. The bill would provide labor protections for nurses and shift problem solving to management, she added.

Bill amends adult foster care rate tiers

Sponsored by Rep. Kim Hicks (DFL-Rochester), HF3712 would both delay by two years — from Jan. 1, 2026 to Jan. 1, 2028 — implementation of adult family foster care rate tiers that were passed last year, and establish an Advisory Task Force on Family Residential Services.

The House Human Services Policy Committee approved the bill as amended and sent it to the House Human Services Finance Committee.

“We passed legislation that removed this service from the waiver-rate system and established flat tier rates for the service effective 2026,” Hicks said. “As these are being looked at by providers there is growing concern about what they may mean for the future of the service.”

Sara Grafstrom, senior director of state and federal policy at the Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota, said initial modeling shows “drastic rate reductions” for some family foster care providers that could lead to them shutting down.

“With over 1,200 family residential providers in the state, the loss of even a few represents a major loss to the network of providers who do this work,” she said.

Delaying the implementation date, Hicks added, would allow a task force, per the bill, “to evaluate proposed family residential services rate modifications and the impact any proposed payment methodology would have on existing family residential services and licensed adult family foster care providers.”

Rectifying power imbalance between the housing providers and tenants Imagine pulling up to your new apartment

“With new redistricting maps decided by 2030 elections and in order to fundamentally transform the balance of power in states, we need a long-term strategy to break into territory that Republicans have long dominated,” DLCC President Heather Williams said in an email. “That’s exactly what this plan does. The DLCC is the only party committee tasked with working cycle over cycle to build Democratic power in state legislatures. Our 2024 target map includes states like Kansas, North Carolina, Georgia, and Wisconsin – states where we must build infrastructure and position Democrats to gradually chip away at Republican power. 2024 is the year of the states, and what happens this year will shape the arc of Democratic power in the states for the decade. Today, Republicans have been put on notice that the DLCC has the plan to win not only the year, but also the decade and decades to come.”

on religious grounds. Older groups such as Rabbis for Human Rights, whose members range from humanist to Orthodox, have also drawn on religious ideas for decades. Some activists within the Faithful Left have also been a part of Bnei Avraham, a group that shows solidarity with Palestinians by building relationships in the West Bank – specifically Hebron, where Palestinians routinely experience violence and harassment. Secular anti-

occupation groups such as Ta’ayush take this idea one step further by trying to provide in-person protection against violence. For example, Ta’ayush activists walk kids to school or accompany Palestinian shepherds as a buffer to prevent harassment.

The erosion of the Green Line has challenged many peace groups’ visions for peace and justice, as diverse as those are. Even more fundamentally, it has reopened the question of what it means for Israel to be Jewish

and democratic – a question at the heart of Israeli peace activists’ challenges today.

Atalia Omer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

building with a car or rental trailer full of your possessions, eager to move in only to be told the residence is not ready and you need to find other accommodations right away. That’s what hundreds of University of Minnesota students faced last fall when the Identity Dinkytown residence was still under construction. What made this situation so bad for these students, Rep. Mohamud Noor (DFL-Mpls) said, was that the management company collected rent on Aug. 1, then told renters the next day they could not move in as promised before classes began after Labor Day. Identity management “left tenants with nowhere to

go,” said Noor. Many had to pay rent at two separate places until their unit was ready.

“The imbalance of power between the housing providers and tenants is significant,” Noor said. “We need to rectify that.”

To that end, he sponsors HF3961 which would expand the legal remedies tenants have if they cannot move into a rental unit on the promised move-in date.

The House Housing Finance and Policy Committee approved the measure, as amended, on a split voice vote Wednesday and sent it to the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee. Under its provisions,

if a management company cannot provide a livable rental unit on the date promised in a lease, the landlord must notify a tenant at least seven days prior to the start of the lease, plus offer the tenant:  an equivalent unit to rent until the unit is ready;  an amount equivalent to the rent they would be paying so that the tenant can find other housing; or  the option to cancel the lease and have any money paid toward the housing returned. If a landlord doesn’t offer these options, a tenant could sue to recover “the greater of one month’s rent, $1,000, or actual damages, plus reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs.”

CONVERSATIONSWITHALMCFARLANE(EveryFriday@1:00pm)

Rep. Sandra Feist

Photo by Andrew VonBank

Shana Tomenes, staff attorney for University of Minnesota Student Legal Service, testifies for a bill sponsored by Rep. Mohamud Noor, right, that would provide tenant remedies related to new construction delays.

Rep. Kim Hicks

Aesthetically It

Film review: Rustin

By Dwight Brown

(**1/2)

He was the man behind the man. Martin Luther King’s chief lieutenant. Why is he only getting attention now?

Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) was gay at a time in the ‘60s when he was shunned by MLK’s other associates. He regained his stature in the civil rights leader’s camp when he imagined, developed

and completed a March on Washington. Rustin: “Do this Dr. King. Own your power.”

That assembly of like minds became the largest civil rights gathering ever. On August 28th, 1963, 250,000 people, who had a heightened sense of social consciousness, descended on D.C. and changed the course of history. Rustin: “A demonstration made up of angelic troublemakers.”

The script by Julian Breece (When They See Us) and Dustin Lance Black (Milk) gives and indepth portrait of the man who endured continuous hazing, yet

prevailed. Lovers, adversaries, arrests, achievements. It’s all on screen, manifested in a stunning performance by Domingo. Meticulous research has been turned into an energizing screenplay. All the characters are in place. Yet, too often their dialogue seems more suited for a modern novel than the way everyday folks talked back then.

The most stirring drama is featured in scenes played by veteran actors who embody strong-willed civil rights icons in the heat of verbal battles: Glynn Turman (A. Phillip Randolph), CCH Pounder (Dr. Anna Hedgeman),

Maxwell Whittington-Cooper (John Lewis), Aml Ameen (MLK). Jeffrey Wright as the vindictive Adam Clayton Powell commands the screen and steers the proceedings to high-pitch levels. Chris Rock as the condescending NAACP leader Roy Wilkinson seems woefully miscast: “The hell with Bayard Rustin. His attention-grabbing antics make him an easy target. And let’s not mention the unmentionable.”

Director George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) gets many things right. The assemblage of historical figures is as magical

as the one in One Night in Miami, when Sam Cooke, Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali and Malcom X gathered. He makes Rustin’s coalition building feat (black activists, college kids, union members) seem miraculous. And Wolfe builds the tension and preparation to an exhilarating peak, getting solid performances from the very talented cast. Yet nothing distinguishes Rustin from other bio/history films, minus the milestone crowd shots at the Washington Monument. Some will wish the film had steered towards authenticity and wasn’t

so polished. Tobias A. Schliessler’s cinematography glistens. Toni-Leslie James’ costumes look like they were just bought at SAKS. It’s hard to believe you’ve gone back in time when everything looks so neat and tidy. That’s the rub. Fortunately, the sheer gravitas of this historical accounting outweighs any imperfections. Domingo, the screenwriters and supporting cast finally give the enigmatic Bayard Rustin his props, in the most respectful way. He’s no longer the man behind the scenes. He’s the man.

‘Daughters’ wins 2024 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and Festival Favorite Award

When you start with a humanizing premise, there’s nowhere to go but up. Documentaries that present solutions, not just observations, should be lauded and rewarded. That’s why praise has been bestowed on this heartwarming film and its mission to reunite daughters and their incarcerated dads. Bring a tissue when you see it. Maybe a whole box.

“My dad can’t come to the father/daughter dance because he’s in jail,” said one disappointed young girl at the Girls for Change Leadership Academy in Virginia. But she had a suggestion, “What if we had the dance in the jail.” And so, it began. A sheriff was asked to let a daughter/dad dance take place in his prison. He approved, it happened and that auspicious event in 2013 blossomed into the “Date with Dad” prison rehabilitation program.

First-time doc director Angela Patton, CEO of Girls for Change, teamed with video music director Natalie Rae (Leon Bridges: Bad Bad News) and they documented the journey of four young girls looking forward to attending a prom in a Washington, D.C. prison. Aubrey, Santana, Raziah, and Ja’Ana are anxious as they prepare for the event. Their dads, Keith, Mark, Alonzo and Frank, are twice as nervous.

The men attend educational and consciousnessraising therapy sessions for

10 weeks to prepare for the big reunion. They confess their apprehensions, hopes and ambitions as they study fatherhood and look back on their own lives. One laments that he isn’t present in his tween daughter’s life. As a 16-year-old, he’d impregnated her 14-yearold mother whose own dad was not around. He thinks if her father had been home policing her potential boyfriends, they might not have become teen parents. The dangers that lurk when fathers are absent are real to him. Another wishes he could witness his daughter’s growth: “Everything I wanted to do she’s doing. Everything I wanted to be she is.” Another confesses, he doesn’t know how to dance.

The girls express, anger, fear, envy and sadness as they yearn for their dads’

presence. Despair pushes one youngster into wanting to jump off a roof. The parents and children all need understanding, forgiveness and healing. Fortunately, they have a guardian angel, an auntie. The shaman-like Angela Patton encourages the children, counsels the weary mothers and assures the men that they’re needed: “Our daddies are our mirrors that we reflect back on when we decide about what type of man we deserve.”

Cinematographer Michael “Cambio” Fernandez’s invisible camerawork puts you in the center of the men’s discussion groups, on the collect calls from prison and in homes where kids reveal their deepest secrets. A group shot of the fathers in orange jumpsuits is sobering. A group shot of

them in suits and ties, like they’re at an HBC fraternity reunion, is humanizing. You’re watching their rehabilitation in real time. These precious moments are judiciously assembled and clipped together by the filmmakers and editor Troy Josiah Lewis. Their only questionable creative decision is not cutting more of the post event footage. During sensitive moments, sweet cello music (composer Kelsey Lu) plays. During reflective scenes, songs like “Happen,” by British singer/ songwriter Sampha, fill the air with their deeply felt lyrics. In a

haunting tenor voice, he croons: “You’re too scared to show me love. ‘Cause you’re too fresh with the scars… I can’t let this happen again. I found my love and I don’t wanna lose it again.”

Audiences will love all the girls, especially the extremely bright Aubrey who was around five years old during the filming. All the dads become leading men in their own movies and their metamorphoses are on view. That big day, when the daughters and fathers meet, hug, dance and exchange feelings is when viewers who’d previously dabbed their eyes with a few tissues will grab a bunch.

“Daughters” puts a face on those affected by incarceration. Children, parents and families all trying to find their way back to the center of life. People learning lessons and gaining wisdom. When one father says, “The streets don’t love us. Our kids love us,” you know that they’re all headed in the right direction. For more information about the Sundance Film Festival go to: https:// festival.sundance.org Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.

Empowering youth and strengthening communities through mentorship

By Pulane Choane Contributing Writer

across the Twin Cities area, providing mentorship opportunities for children and teenagers from diverse

Mentorship stands as a beacon of hope in the lives of countless young people, offering guidance, support, and inspiration as they navigate the complexities of adolescence and beyond. At the heart of this transformative process lies organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters of Twin Cities (BBS Twin Cities), dedicated to fostering meaningful connections between mentors and mentees that transcend boundaries and empower communities to thrive.

BBBS Twin Cities has been serving the community for over 100 years. It is a nonprofit organization relying on donations, partnerships, and volunteers. The organization has around 55 staff members dedicated to its mission. The nonprofit serves approximately 2,600 youth across five different counties in the metro area.

Mario Bradshaw, Senior Community Engagement Coordinator at Big Brothers Big Sisters, encapsulates the essence of mentorship as he reflects on his own journey. Raised in a single-parent household, Mario found solace and guidance from positive role models within his community. He shares, “I had them growing up, which was beautiful. But also, being a black man in a white society, I didn’t have a lot of people who looked like me who were my role models or people that gave me guidance and stuff. I had to rely on other people to help me with that process.”

Mario’s experience underscores the profound impact that mentors can have on shaping the trajectory of a young person’s life.

Through mentorship, individuals like Mario find support, encouragement, and a sense of belonging that propels them towards success. As Mario eloquently puts it, “Mentorship, I knew I wanted to pay that forward, as I mentioned earlier. And I try to do so in my work.”

Princess AwaAda Kisob, Vice President of Programs at Big Brothers Big Sisters, echoes Mario’s sentiments, emphasizing the transformative power of mentorship. Reflecting on her own Cameroonian heritage and the importance of cultural connections, Princess shares, “Mentorship really does impact the way a young person sees themselves, but also sees the world, full of possibility.”

Indeed, mentorship transcends individual relationships to become a catalyst for positive change within communities. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Twin Cities serves as a vital conduit for this change, reaching out to over 500 youth who eagerly await mentors to guide them on their journey.

Princess Awa-Ada Kisob highlights this need, acknowledging the significant number of young people on the waitlist, emphasizing the urgency of community engagement to address this gap. The program’s reach extends

BBS Twin Cities says its mission is to “create and support mentoring relationships that ignite the

backgrounds. Potential mentees come to the program through various referral sources, including word of mouth, former program participants, parents or caregivers, teachers, schools, social workers, and therapists, showcasing the community’s trust and reliance on Big Brothers Big Sisters. Mentorship is offered through various models, including one-on-one mentoring relationships and group activities or social events where mentors and mentees can connect. The organization emphasizes diversity among mentors and mentees, recognizing the importance of representation and cultural relevance in mentorship relationships. They particularly seek more male mentors, particularly men of color, to support young boys in need of positive male role models. Through community engagement efforts like “big socials,” Big Brothers Big Sisters actively raises awareness about the importance of mentorship and recruits volunteers to serve as mentors. Mentors are asked to make a commitment of spending a few hours each month with their mentees, providing consistent support and guidance. The organization emphasizes the transformative impact of mentorship on both mentees and mentors, highlighting the reciprocal nature of the relationship.

As Mario aptly summarizes, “It’s super special to see [the mentees’] growth and see their development. It’s something I wouldn’t change my experience for the world.”

In a world where challenges abound and opportunities are not equally distributed, mentorship stands as a beacon of hope, offering young people the support, guidance, and inspiration they need to navigate life’s journey with confidence and resilience.

Through organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters of Twin Cities, mentorship becomes a powerful force for positive change, empowering youth and strengthening communities one relationship at a time.

Programs include traditional one-to-one community-based matching, site-based mentoring, and free arts programs. BBBS welcomes volunteers aged 18 and older to become mentors. No prior mentorship experience is required; individuals are encouraged to be themselves and willing to learn and grow. The organization also prioritizes child safety and conducts background checks and reference checks for potential mentors. Finally, volunteers are expected to align with BBBS’s JEDI values (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) and undergo training. To find out more about BBS, visit their website at https://www.bigstwincities. org/our-story/

power and promise of youth”.

Mario Bradshaw

Princess Awa-Ada Kisob

Could the days of ‘springing forward’ be numbered? A neurologist and sleep expert explains the downside to that borrowed hour of daylight

By Beth Ann Malow Professor of Neurology and

Vanderbilt University

according to clock time.

Morning light is essential for helping to set the body’s natural rhythms: It wakes us up and improves alertness. Morning light also boosts mood – light boxes simulating natural light are prescribed for morning use to treat seasonal affective disorder.

Although the exact reasons why light activates us and benefits our mood are not yet known, this may be due to light’s effects on increasing levels of cortisol, a hormone that modulates the stress response, or the effect of light on the amygdala, a part of the brain involved in emotions.

months that Americans remain on daylight saving time.

Why our bodies are thrown off by DST Americans are split on whether they prefer permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time. But a growing number of states are supporting permanent standard time.

However, the two time shifts – jolting as they may be – are not equal. Standard time most closely approximates natural light, with the sun directly overhead at or near noon. In contrast, during daylight saving time from March until November, the clock change causes natural light to be present one hour later in the morning and one hour later in the evening

Adolescents also may be chronically sleep-deprived due to school, sports and social activities. For instance, many children start school around 8 a.m. or earlier, which means that during daylight saving time they get up and travel to school in pitch darkness.

The body of evidence makes a good case for adopting permanent standard time nationwide, as I testified at a March 2022 Congressional hearing and argued in a recent position statement for the Sleep Research Society. The American Medical Association recently called for permanent standard time. And in late 2022, Mexico adopted permanent standard time, citing benefits to health, productivity and energy savings.

The biggest advantage of daylight saving time is that it provides an extra hour of light

Hennepin

“No

in the late afternoon or evening, depending on time of year, for sports, shopping or eating outside. However, exposure to light later into the evening for almost eight months during daylight saving time comes at a price. This extended evening light delays the brain’s release of melatonin, the hormone that promotes drowsiness, which in turn interferes with sleep and causes us to sleep less overall.

Because puberty also causes melatonin to be released later at night, meaning that teenagers have a delay in the natural signal that helps them fall asleep, adolescents are particularly susceptible to sleep problems from the extended evening light. This shift in melatonin during puberty lasts into our 20s.

The ‘western edge’ effect Geography can also make a difference in how daylight saving time affects people. One study showed that people living on the western edge of a time zone, who get light later in the morning and later in the evening, got less

sleep than their counterparts on the eastern edge of a time zone. This study found that western-edge residents had higher rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and breast cancer, as well as lower per capita income and higher health care costs. Other research has found that rates of certain other cancers are higher on the western edge of a time zone. Scientists believe that these health problems may result from a combination of chronic sleep deprivation and “circadian misalignment.” Circadian misalignment refers to a mismatch in timing between our biological rhythms and the outside world. In other words, the timing of daily work, school or sleep routines is based on the clock, rather than on the sun’s rise and set.

A brief history of daylight saving time Congress instituted year-round daylight saving time during World War I and World War II, and once again during the energy crisis of the early 1970s. But the popularity

of year-round daylight saving time fell from 79% to 42% after it went into effect in January 1974, largely due to safety concerns about children going to school in the dark.

The idea at that time was that having extra light later into the afternoon would save energy by decreasing the need for electric lighting. This idea has since been proved largely inaccurate, as heating needs may increase in the morning in the winter, while air conditioning needs can also increase in the late afternoon in the summer.

After World War II, designating the start and end dates for daylight saving time fell to state governments. Because this created many railroad scheduling and safety problems, however, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966. This law set the nationwide dates of daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April until the last Sunday in October. In 2007, Congress amended the act to expand the period in which daylight saving time is in effect from the second Sunday in March to the first

Sunday in November – dates that remain in effect today. But the Uniform Time Act does allow states and territories to opt out of daylight saving time. Arizona and Hawaii are on permanent standard time, along with Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and American Samoa.

A shifting landscape

As of March 2024,

17 states have passed laws to adopt year-round daylight saving time. But federal law requires that they need to wait for Congress, and in some cases also neighboring states, to act. More than two dozen states introduced legislation related to the clock change in 2023, but no laws were passed.

Meanwhile, proposed legislation and resolutions for permanent standard time have increased from 15% in 2021 to 37% in 2024.

In March 2022, the U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act in a bid to make daylight saving time permanent. But the House did not move forward with this legislation. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio reintroduced the bill on March 1, 2023, but this bill has not progressed.

The spike in activity among states seeking to break from these twice-yearly changes reflects how more people are recognizing the downsides of this practice. Now, it’s in the hands of legislators to decide whether to end the time shift altogether and to either choose a full year of having clocks more aligned with the sun or to artificially extend the day for more than half the year, for better or for worse.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 10, 2022.

Beth Ann Malow is the Sleep Research Society representative to the Coalition for Permanent Standard TIme.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

Soul Food Baby: From A-Z

By: W.D. Foster-Graham Book

SOUL FOOD BABY

From A-Z

By Dr. Talaya L. Tolefree

As people of African descent, part of our culture includes breaking bread together. Even in times of slavery, food and coming together as family could not be erased. I remember watching the movie Soul Food when it was released in 1997, which included Sunday dinner’s soul food as a way of showing love. That being said, I bring to you Dr. Talaya Tolefree’s children’s book Soul Food Baby: From A-Z.

Our story begins with Nia asking her Grandma and Grandpa Sankofa, “Is there such a thing as Soul Food Soup?” This begins a story told by her grandparents about a little girl who was something like her called Soul Food Baby, who couldn’t be satisfied by anything but Soul Food Soup when she was upset. Step by step, from A to Z, Grandma Sankofa names the soul food items that taste good! Like the movie, when I paged through Grandma Sankofa’s list, my stomach was growling. Having eaten nearly all the items on that list at some point in my life gave me a hearty appreciation and appetite for them. I loved that Tolefree was intentional

Dr. Talaya L. Tolefree

about making this story multigenerational. Everyone, parents and grandparents alike, cooked and prepared the food, which gave the all-important sense of community. The vivid illustrations and color brought by Joyeeta Neogi enhanced this joyous story.

Another point that was brought home in Tolefree’s story: it is not just preparing soul food, but the spirit and

the heart that goes into what is prepared. Soul Food Baby is available through Sankofa Moments Publishing, Amazon, and the Minnesota Black Authors Expo website. Thank you, Dr. Tolefree, for bringing us another story of love, joy, family, and community while whetting our appetites, both figuratively and literally!

Commentary

Don’t know much about... Civics

By Chuck Hobbs

Last night, one of my friends forwarded me a clip from X (Twitter) of a voter discussing why she was supporting Donald Trump for President in 2024. The voter first said that Trump was still the president from her point of view—before changing to say that Joe Biden may be in the White House, but that he is actually serving Barack Obama›s third term. When the reporter asked how Biden or Obama could be president if she believed that Trump was still the president, the woman giggled and had no logical reply. I laughed...

and laughed heartily!

But my hearty laughter was really a gallows humor outburst because this voter, like far too many Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and minor party members, is woefully uninformed.

Who is to blame?

Well, one could certainly blame the fact that the newspaper industry isn’t what it used to be! According to the Pew Research Center, the estimated total U.S. daily newspaper circulation (print and digital combined) in 2022 was 20.9 million for both weekday and Sunday—a figure that was down 10 percent from 2021.

One could also blame the emergence of niche news channels and podcasts that focus more on news “entertainment” in short bursts to satiate an oft indifferent viewing public. This stands in stark contrast to my youth when there was CBS

News with Walter Cronkite/Dan

Rather, ABC News with Max Robinson/Peter Jennings, and NBC News with Tom Brokaw providing hard news reporting each and every evening without a bunch of focus panels and anchors proffering opinions.

As an op/ed writer, I don’t mean to besmirch that part of the trade, but unlike some of my colleagues, whenever I opine, I ALWAYS render opinions based upon objective facts—not fiction! You will never, ever see me exclaim that the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor (the Japanese did it), or that 2 + 2 = 5— because objective facts matter!

Sadly, in the modern era, when it comes to the cyber public square, facts shift shapes according to whether they were provided by right wing or left wing media sources, thus, the poor Trump supporter’s sincere (and sincerely ignorant) belief

that we are in Obama’s third term and Trump›s second at the same damned time!

Last, we can surely blame the diminished significance of Civics classes in America’s classrooms over the past several decades as being a key culprit. Now, Civics was mandatory as recent as my high school days, but some education “experts” decided to make such courses optional (or obsolete) in the 1990’s as the same pushed STEM education often at the expense of liberal arts classes.

Well, right here in Florida, while I am often at odds with a great deal of right wing legislation and public policy hailing from this now reddest of red states, the conservatives actually got Florida Administrative Code Rule 6A-1.09411 right in that it mandates Civics, once more, including the mission to, “Understand the United

States Constitution, Bill of Rights, and other amendments in their historical context.”

Now, we’re talking!

While future generations of Floridians should be better informed based upon my own review of the curriculum, in the interim, what happens to all of those citizens across America who are endowed with a voter’s registration card, but have empty minds that are easily filled with false facts spewed by highly opinionated dilettantes?

Well, the answer is that those of us who see the political and economic status quo and dare to dream of change must use our voices, especially on social media, to advocate true reform! Among the areas that we MUST fix include lessening the influence of money in politics; shortening these overly long election cycles; creating real transparency and accountability

by local, state, federal, and judicial officials; and finally, eliminating the Electoral College—a system that may have made sense to the wealthy Founding Fathers who didn›t want to share power with poor white men,white women, or free Blacks—but makes no sense at all in an era in which one person, one vote, should be the goal! Lest we forget!

Subscribe to

Point By